In the past
two years, two men, Reinhold Hanning and Oskar Groning, who had worked as guards
and bookkeepers at the Auschwitz death camp during World War II were convicted
to four- and five-year sentences for accessory to murder in German courts. Both
men are in their 90s today and while it might seem futile to pursue cases
against defendants this old, Attorney Christoph Rückel emphasized that their
cases were also "too important to be ignored". Rückel, who amongst
other things is of counsel at BridgehouseLaw in Atlanta represented 23
Auschwitz survivors in these cases and helped prosecutors win the recent
convictions.
In the 1970s, Germany had lifted a 30-year statute of
limitation on Holocaust crimes. However, many German courts still required
"direct action" in the deaths in order for the defendant to be
convicted.
In 2011, the Regional Court of Munich (Landgericht München)
had convicted another guard, but the man died before the judgment was final
(rechtskräftig). Just recently, in September 2016, the German Supreme Court confirmed
Hanning's and Groning's conviction. Newer interpretations of the law allow
prosecutions against those who "supported the system of the killing
machine".
Former bookkeeper Oskar Groning is currently 95 years of
age.
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